"Mr. Sawada, please!" Kyōraku said.
Tsuna rolled his eyes. He'd figured it out—when Kyōraku didn't need anything, it was "Tsunayoshi-kun." The moment he did, it became "Mr. Sawada."
The Demon Spade's Demon Lens disappeared as Tsuna activated his Mist-Attribute Bankai. However, he didn't manifest the Mist Staff, leaving it in its earring form.
Aizen was no ordinary opponent. At just Shikai-level Reiatsu, Tsuna wasn't confident he could break Aizen's hypnosis. But Bankai? That would be enough.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to possess this kind of power, Mr. Sawada," Unohana said, slightly surprised. "It doesn't seem inferior to your swordsmanship at all."
"Swordsmanship? Your last exchange was a sword duel?" Kyōraku asked.
"What else would be worthy of my involvement?" Unohana replied calmly.
Kyōraku wisely chose not to push further. He silently noted that Tsuna's abilities were still largely unknown—so far, he had only witnessed his Mist-type powers.
"My swordsmanship is average. Very average," Tsuna emphasized repeatedly.
He had no intention of discussing that topic. The image of Unohana's almost crazed expression while cutting people down still lingered in his mind.
A faint smile appeared on Unohana's face—she understood exactly why Tsuna was avoiding the subject. But now wasn't the time for that.
Business came first.
With practiced ease, Tsuna released mist from his hand and swept it slowly over the corpse.
Where the mist passed, illusions were erased—restoring reality by dismantling false perception.
Gradually, the corpse's true appearance emerged.
A completely unfamiliar face.
Kyōraku and Ukitake immediately stepped forward to examine it. The cause of death remained the same—a fatal chest wound. Aizen had merely altered its appearance.
"Don't recognize him," Kyōraku said.
"Neither do I," Ukitake agreed.
"That's not surprising," Tsuna said. "If you were doing this, you'd pick someone with minimal presence—someone so insignificant that even if they disappeared, no one would notice."
"True. I'll have people check all division rosters and see who's missing from the Seireitei," Kyōraku said.
"Just don't pin it on us if someone turns out to be dead," Tsuna added preemptively.
"We won't," Ukitake said firmly. "I, Ukitake Jūshirō, would never harm a friend."
"...Tch."
A clearly audible scoff rang out.
Ukitake looked awkward.
The one who scoffed was Ginjō Kūgo—a former Substitute Shinigami whose badge had been issued by Ukitake… yet who was later hunted by Soul Society.
"Cough… Ginjō. After this incident, I'll investigate the truth for you," Ukitake said, coughing slightly.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi—this Zanpakutō beside the corpse… is it real?"
While the others spoke, Unohana had already shifted her focus back to the body. She quickly noticed something odd.
The Zanpakutō lying beside the corpse—Kyōka Suigetsu—had not changed at all.
"It's real. I've already removed the illusion," Tsuna replied.
"This is Kyōka Suigetsu… and Aizen just left it here as a decoy?" Ukitake frowned. The faint Reiatsu from the blade clearly belonged to Aizen.
"Kyōka Suigetsu was publicly presented as a water-type Zanpakutō. Has Aizen been hiding an illusion-type ability all along? Or does he have an accomplice?" Kyōraku's speculation began to spiral.
"Stop guessing," Tsuna cut in. "Kyōka Suigetsu is an illusion-type Zanpakutō. He's just been disguising it as a water-type."
"But if Kyōka Suigetsu is here… how were Captain Hitsugaya and the others manipulated?" Ukitake asked.
"I've seen something like this before," Tsuna said, drawing everyone's attention.
"When Kuchiki Rukia went to the Human World, she said her Zanpakutō had been swapped. It had her Reiatsu, but it wasn't the real blade. That's why she couldn't release it and had to transfer her Shinigami powers to a human."
"So that was Aizen as well?" Kyōraku asked. "But how could he replicate a Zanpakutō so perfectly?"
"How? Isn't that obvious?" Tsuna said. "Tsukishima—give this blade a cut."
Only now did the captains truly notice the quiet, tall man standing nearby.
Without a word, Tsukishima acted.
His bookmark transformed into a blade and pierced Kyōka Suigetsu.
The sword's history was short—within moments, Tsukishima absorbed all of it.
Then—
He turned and stabbed Tsuna in the chest.
Instantly, tension exploded.
All three captains drew their Zanpakutō and aimed at Tsukishima. Tsuna was their key informant—if he died here, everything would fall apart.
"Stop! All of you, stop!" Tsuna said quickly. "That's his ability—it doesn't harm people."
Only then did they notice—there was no blood on the blade, and no wound on Tsuna's body.
Tsukishima said nothing. He simply reinserted the bookmark into Book of the End and returned to Ginjō's side.
"Right… in simple terms, Tsukishima can read the past," Tsuna explained. "So now we know how this sword came to be."
"This blade was created by Aizen extracting his own Reiatsu and injecting it into an Asauchi-like shell. It was done in a secret laboratory. This is a fake Kyōka Suigetsu."
"The next time it was used… was when Aizen killed this guy in Squad 5 while he was unconscious."
Tsuna pointed at the corpse.
"Aizen… can do that?" Kyōraku frowned. "He's capable, yes—but I've never heard of him conducting experiments. That's Squad 12's domain."
"Here's another piece of information," Tsuna said. "Aizen's research ability is on par with Squad 12. There should be a hidden laboratory somewhere in Soul Society."
"Aizen… hid that much?" Ukitake muttered.
"Mr. Sawada," Kyōraku said directly, "the one hiding in Central 46—is that Aizen? And what is he trying to accomplish?"
"Yes," Tsuna replied. "We were lured here by Aizen. The bait was Kuchiki Rukia."
"As for why—probably to stir chaos in the Seireitei. A fake death like this is bound to have flaws."
"And we more or less figured out his plan. Plus, we have some companions who want revenge on Aizen—so we decided to play along and come to Soul Society."
"Revenge?" Kyōraku asked. "Can you elaborate?"
"Shinigami who were exiled a hundred years ago."
"The Hollowfication Incident!" Ukitake immediately reacted.
"No wonder you're with Lady Yoruichi… So Hirako Shinji and the others are here too?" Kyōraku was already calculating the possibility of cooperation.
"That's right. But they're hiding. They'll only appear at the final moment. With their knowledge of the Seireitei, you won't find them in a few days," Tsuna said, shutting that idea down.
"Mr. Sawada, if we could contact Hirako, it would greatly strengthen our forces," Ukitake said.
"Forget it. They resent the Seireitei just as much as Ginjō did when he first met you."
"Hey, don't drag us into this," Ginjō said awkwardly. He had held a grudge against Ukitake—but after getting to know him, he realized Ukitake was simply too kind.
"That's unfortunate…" Ukitake sighed. "We've suffered quite a few injuries. Their help would make a big difference."
Tsuna scratched his head awkwardly.
Thinking about it carefully…
The current weakened state of the Gotei 13 was largely their doing.
Aside from Squad 1—
Squad 2: Soi Fon was relatively fine, currently training Shunkō under Yoruichi
Squad 3: Ichimaru Gin suffered minor injuries during probing exchanges with Tsuna's system
Squad 4: Unohana had been heavily injured by Tsuna (internally still not fully healed)
Squad 5: Aizen—"dead" publicly
Squad 6: Byakuya nearly died against Horned Hollow Ichigo
Squad 7: Komamura—injured by Chad and later mentally damaged by Tsuna's illusion
Squad 8: Kyōraku—injured in battle
Squad 9: Tōsen—severely wounded by Tsuna
Squad 10: Hitsugaya—currently unconscious
Squad 11: Kenpachi—seriously injured by Tsuna
Squad 12: Mayuri—would've died if not for Uryū holding back
Squad 13: Ukitake—injured in combat
In other words—
Aside from a few exceptions, most of the Gotei 13's combat strength had been crippled by Tsuna's group.
And Tsuna himself had personally taken down a huge portion of it.
The destructive power of the Ryoka… is actually this terrifying?
A thought suddenly crossed his mind—
Was this also part of Aizen's plan?
Using them to weaken the Seireitei?
If Aizen's scheme really ran that deep…
Then why risk sending his own allies into danger?
Ichimaru Gin was one thing—but Tōsen had been genuinely gravely injured.
Had Aizen truly intended for Tōsen to kill him back then?
After all—
There was no way Aizen could have predicted something like Hyper Intuition.
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